David Weir successfully defended his T54 1500m crown. But can he continue his
spectacular gold run?

David Weir defends the title he won in Beijing. It is likely to be a tactical race until the last 300m although the Chinese athlete Lixin Zhang could even attack from the off. Marcel Hug, the world record holder, is in his heat as well as perennial rival Kurt Fearn ley of Australia. It means Weir will have to push himself in the heat — one of three — with the first two in each going through plus the two fastest losers. What is clear is that Weir’s tactic of sitting on Hug’s tail in lane two has worked so far and he has not been boxed in once. It is the toughest race for him to get gold.

Weir has won the London Marathon a record six times but has never competed over 26.2 miles in the Games. He has had a smooth Paralympics so far with little emotional energy expended, so could have something in reserve. The Games marathon course differs slightly from the London Marathon yet the twists and turns and technical nature of it suit him.

When Weir is relaxed his presence and power make him very tough to defeat. Winning the last athletic medal of the Games would be the perfect way to stamp his mark as the greatest wheelchair athlete in the world.

Marathon: Sunday 11.30am

------------------

Werewolves of London

Weir was greeted by werewolf howls from his British team-mates as they celebrated his medal last night. “There’s a tune on the internet about a werewolf and London and they’ve adopted it for me,” he revealed.

“I listened to it earlier and it’s pretty good.” Weirwolf of London, as his team-mates would have it, is a reworking of the classic Werewolves of London which the American rock singer-songwriter Warren Zevon included on his 1978 album Excitable Boy.

With fans last night using the hashtag Weirwolf to tweet about Weir’s victory, the song’s popularity is only going to grow.